Device for regenerating oxidized mineral oils



27, 1964 KllCHlRO SARUI 3, 5 88 DEVICE FOR REGENERATING OXIDIZED MINERAL. OILS Filed Nov. 4, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

BY MW ATTORNEYS 1964 KIICHIRO SARUI 3,154,483

DEVICEFOR REGENERATING OXIDIZED MINERAL OILS Filed Nov. 4, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR BY $1 1M ATTORNEY 5 United States Patent 3,154,488 DEVICE FOR REGENERATING ()XIDIZED MINERAL ()TLS Kiichiro Sarui, Tokyo, Japan, assignor to Tokyo Gixen Kahushiki Kaislia, Tokyo, Japan, a corporation of .la an p Filed Nov. 4, 1964?, Ser. No. 67,389

1 Claim. (Cl. 210-506) This invention relates .to a device for regenerating mineral oils which have become oxidized or are in the process of becoming oxidized.

It is known that mineral oils used in engines or stored for a long time in tanks become oxidized and such oxidized mineral oils, when used as lubricants or fuels, are liable to corrode parts of the engines or storage tanks by contact therewith, consequently shortening the useful life thereof.

An object of the present invention is to provide a device for treating oxidized mineral oils, whereby the mineral oils which have been oxidized or are in the process of being oxidized are lowered in acid number or are prevented from being oxidized further, so that the mineral oils may be prevented from damaging the engines or storage tanks in which they are used or placed.

According to the invention there is provided a device for regenerating oxidized mineral oil, WhlCh device comprises at least one first metallic component in electrical contact with at least one second metallic component, the first metallic component(s) being formed of a metal or alloy thereof capable of producing a metallic salt upon contact with an acidic material contained in the oxidized mineral oil to be regenerated, said firstcomponent(s) having a tendency to ionize in the oxidized mineral oil which is greater than the tendency of said second component(s) to ionize in the mineral oil.

The first and second metallic components may be joined together directly, or joined indirectly by way of a third metal, so that by utilizing the electrical potential difference and the electromotive force between the two jointed metals, the metal having the greater ionization tendency may be activated in its chemical reaction and be increased in its reaction efficiency, thereby lowering the acid number of the mineral oil and substantially preventing the further oxidation of the oil.

The first metallic component(s) may be made of, for example, magnesium, aluminium, zinc, tin or antimony or an alloy of two or more thereof, or an alloy of one or more thereof with at least one other metal, and even when the component is slightly oxidized on its surface, almost the same degree of regeneration may be obtained.

Similarly, the second metallic component can also be an alloy.

If the two metallic components differ in ionization tendency there is produced an electric potential diiference between them, and, it is a general rule that, if an electric circuit is formed by the connection of the two such metallic components, an electric current will flow in this circuit due to the difference of potential at the point of connection, and the current intensity is inversely proportional to the electrical resistance of the circuit when the natures of the metals and the temperature at the joint portion remain constant. If several such arrangements of two metals are prepared, and each pair of metals is placed in series, the potential difference and the electromotive force resulting approximate to the algebraic sum of the separate values, and hence the effectiveness of the device is considerably increased.

ICC

The first and second metallic components may be joined in electrical contact by various means, such as fusion adhesion, soldering, welding, coating by evaporation or plating of one component upon the other, pasting and bolting.

As already mentioned, the metal components having the greater ionization tendency may be, for example, magnesium, aluminium, zinc, tin or antimony, or any other metal which possesses a comparatively small ability to catalytically oxidize the oil, but which reacts with acidic materials in the oil to form salts. The metal component having the smaller ionization tendency may be formed of a metal other than the above described metals, or may be formed of one of the above described metals provided that the first metallic component is formed of a metal of the above mentioned group having an even higher tendency to ionize in the mineral oil, because the metal higher in ionization tendency will preferentially ionize to produce metallic salts thereof when two kinds of metals are present in the mineral oil.

Example of suitable combination of metals from which the device of the present invention may be constructed, are magnesium and tin, magnesium and zinc, aluminium and tin, magnesium and silver, magnesium and a silver alloy, tin and nickel alloy, zinc and tin, magnesium, tin and zinc and nickel alloy, and magnesium, zinc and aluminium.

The treating device of the present invention, may be formed of metallic components of various shapes, for example, components in the shape of straight or curved wires, rods, plates, a partially plated ball, a net or a sponge and the components may be in electrical contact at one or more points along one or more lines, or over a plane or curved surface.

For a better understanding of the invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIGURES 1 to 8 show diagrammatically various embodiments of a device for regenerating mineral oils.

And FIG. 9 is a perspective view of a paper fiber filter according to the present invention.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing the device shown in FIGURE 1 comprises a first metallic component I joined by fusion adhesion at one end thereof to one end of a second metallic component 2, to form a V shape. The components can also be joined at their middle portion to form an X shape. The device shown in FIGURE 2 comprises two metallic components 1 and 2 which, together with a third wire-like metallic component 3, such as a wire of aluminium, are arranged radially and are joined together by fusion adhesion at their central portions. In the device shown in FIGURE 3, the two metallic components 1 and 2 are arranged in spaced parallel relationship with each other, the third metallic component extending from one to the other to form an H shaped device.

The device shown in FIGURE 4 comprises a plurality of metallic components 1 and 2 arranged alternately in zig-zag fashion, the components being joined at their ends.

The device shown in FIGURE 5 comprises a platelike first metallic component 1 situated upon a platelike second metallic component 2, the components being joined by fusion adhesion over their contacting surfaces.

In the device shown in FIGURE 6, each of the metallic components 1 and 2 is in the form of a coil each turn of one coil being adjacent to but spaced from the corresponding turn of the other, the coils being connected in electrical contact at one point.

The device shown in FIGURE 7 comprises a balllike first metallic component 1 having thereon an incomplete coating of a second metal 2, so that the two metallic components are in electrical contact over their common curved surfaces.

The device shown in FIGURE 8 comprises a strandlike first metallic component 1, from which a plurality of short wire-like second metallic components 2, project radially, so that the device is brush-like in shape.

A device of this form is especially convenient for inserting into an oil-pipe or the inner cylinder of a filter, or for coiling around a filter member. As an alternative the short wires can be made of two different metals to form the first and second metallic components, and the strand can be made of a third metal.

In use, the device of the present invention is located, for example, in a pipe line or a filter through which mineral oil flows, or in a tank wherein mineral oil is stored, in order to carry out regeneration of the mineral oil.

By making each individual treating device very small, a large number can be mixed with the paper fibers during the production of filter paper, so that the finished product is a filter paper having the treating devices incorporated therein as shown, for example, in FIG. 9 wherein a plurality of treating devices each consisting of a component I joined to a component 2 forming an X are mixed among paper fibers 4 of a flat filter paper 5, and this filter paper can then be employed in place of a conventional filter paper. The device is suitable for incorporation in a variety of types of filter papers, for example, papers produced from vegetable, mineral or synthetic fibers, or any mixture thereof.

The filter paper 4 can be produced including magnesium wires 1 and silver wires 2 joined together at one point to form an X-shape within the paper fibers 3 during the paper making process.

For a further understanding of the invention, the following examples illustrating the device and method of carrying out the invention will now be given.

Example 1 Treating devices were constructed of a plate of magnesium metal 1 mm. in thickness, 3 mm. in width and 100 mm. in length, and a plate of tin metal 0.2 mm. in thickness, 3 mm. in width and 100 mm. in length fused in electrical contact at one point. Ten such devices were deposited in a filter which was then contacted with oxidized lubricating oil, for the purpose of regenerating said oil by removing therefrom the acidic materials contained therein. The results obtained are shown in the following table. The term time hereinafter used as meaning the period of time for which the lubricating oil was circulated continuously between the crank chamber and the filter. The temperature of the oil was 90 C., and the initial acid number was 5.56.

Time (Minutes).

30 Acid Number Example 3 A silver solder (Ag 75%, Cu 20%, Zn 5%, by weight) was made into a small ball of about 0.5 mm. in diameter, and a number of such balls were charged into a suitable mould and heated and pressed to cause them to become partly adhered to each other by fusion, to form a porous tube. This tube was then coated by vacuum evaporation in the conventional manner with tin meal and then the film was partly chipped away to form an electric circuit between the two metals. This tube was applied to a filter and was tested in a similar manner to that employed in Example 1, and the regeneration of the mineral oil under treatment was as follows:

Time (Minutes) Acid Number Example 4 Time (Minutes) Acid Number In all of the above examples, the oxidized oil to be regenerated was a lubricating oil No. 30 to which had previously been added anti-oxidation agents, and which oil had lubricated the running of a medium-sized motorcar for 400 kms. The measuring method of acid numher was in accordance with JIS.K2501.

Example 5 100 parts of fibers of various lengths were prepared as usual in a conventional paper making process. Separately, magnesium alloy and zinc metal each in the form of very fine wires, were joined in electrical contact to a strand of silver metal in a manner such as to form the shape of a brush suitable for washing bottles, and then the silver strand was cut into portions at intervals of about 1 mm. which portions were then flattened by pressure. 30 parts of said portions were added to said 100 parts of mixed fibers together with 5 parts of glass fibers and 0.3 part of carboxymethylcellulose soda, and the whole was treated as usual in conventional papermaking, in order to produce a filter paper 1.76 mm. in thickness, 0.9 sec/100 cc. in permeability (pipe diameter 1 inch) and 1.76 kg./cm. in bursting strength.

This filter paper was applied to a conventional type of filter and was tested by a method similar to that described in Example 1. The regeneration of the mineral oil under treatment was as follows:

Example 2 Time (Minutes) Acid Number Time (Minutes) 30 Acid Number 3.02

The same treatment was then carried out employing a conventional type of filter and the air which previously had a sulphur dioxide content of 2.83 p.p.m. per litre was circulated therethrough, whereby an experimental lowering of the sulphur dioxide content was obtained as follows:

Time (Minutes) 30 60 Content of Sulphur Dioxide (p.p.m. per

litre) What I claim is:

A sheet device for regenerating oxidized mineral oil comprising a filter sheet composed of paper fibers, a plurality of treating devices mixed with the fibers in said filter sheet, each of said treating devices consists of a thin and relatively short magnesium Wire and a thin re1atively short silver Wire, means joining said silver and magnesium wires in each treating device to each other at one point only forming at that point an electrical contact.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Cabrera Sept. 30, Maverick et a1. June 20, Brown Nov. 17, Butler Oct. 12, Puddington et a1 Sept. 16, 

